Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

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(2)

4 out of 5 stars

Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

A newly revamped pub from the team behind Brompton Food Market, just a few streets away.

In the posh-shop-big-museum nexus around South Kensington, a nice old pub with nice old tiles has been scrubbed up by a couple of lads who own the nearby Brompton Food Market: a grocer, butcher, deli and fishmonger. So as you’d expect, food is a major part of their new venture, but they’ve had the sense to make sure the Hour Glass remains a pub at heart.

So the ground floor is a pleasant spot with plenty of standing, leaning and sitting room to enjoy an ale. Beer lovers needn’t waste their time with the stuff in the fridge, but there were a couple of decent ones on tap, including an American Pale Ale from Portobello Brewing Co (£4.45 a pint); maybe a G&T or glass of wine would be more appropriate. There’s a solid selection of proper bar snacks too, including Cumberland scotch eggs and pork pies.

And it’s upstairs that the real food action happens, in a handsome dining room with sparkling glasses and linen crisp and white as a Royal Hospital counterpane. Some tables have a jolly view out over Brompton Road, and up here diners can tuck into British dishes that are served with real attention to detail: chips like crispy ingots, flatiron steak dotted with roasted marrow, wood pigeon with pickled quince and black pudding.

The Hour Glass is maybe more successful as a pub-with-food than a plain old pub, but the separate eating space makes it a great spot for a pint anyway.

New favourite spot after visits to the museums, away from the hordes of crowd. The food was lovely, ordered the risotto and scotch egg to go with some cold beers. The fried chicken and wings looked great, except for the very sad 'side salad' which literally consisted of few leaves of lettuce. Slightly puzzled with that.